I used to do stuff like that. But now, either due to laziness or whatever, I've kind of forgotten all about it. I may just go back to that practice. If nothing else, thanks for the reminder :-)
Nice if your writing a novel, a pain to keep track of while playing a game.
+1 longsword works for me.
The problem with naming swords is that it's rather anticlmactic to have Excalibur turn out to be a +2 Longsword.
WoTC tried to handle this with Weapons of Legacy, where the weapons grow as you do, but, it was horribly handled. The 'awaken' the ability of the sword requirements was pretty awful, and you sort of had to plan your whole character around your weapon of legacy. Everyone I ever had read my copy of the book thought they were awesome conceptually, but nobody ever wanted to actually own one.
I think that it would be cool to have a 'Legacy Weapon' that had a name, etc, the problem is how to handle the fact that a character would want to get a hold of this at 2nd to 4th level, and have it be useful for a long time.
One thing you might want to try is having 'artifact' weapons be more common. In this sort of situation, you have to give the weapon abilities and drawbacks though. Here's one way I thought of to handle it, but I haven't had a chance to test it in play. Base the sword's abilities off the martial prowess of the wielder. A wielder cannot sell a Legacy Weapon, it simply won't work (perhaps it becomes a normal +2 longsword at that point, and loses all it's special magic). It can be given, or found, however. It can also be inherited. The more powerful the wielder, the more the wielder can get out of the Legacy Weapon.
Weapon Name : Silvassa
Type : Longsword
Description : Silvassa was forged by ancient elves in forgotten rituals for an Elven Princes. It is a blade forged of pure silver, with elven runes along the blade. One side holds the name of the weapon, the other reads 'Loyalty' in ancient Elven. The hilt is forged from pure gold, and the grip is made from a rough hewn but comfortable basalt with a silver core.
Benefits :
Enhancement Bonus : Silvassa has an Enhancement Bonus equal to it's rightful wielder's BAB / 3, rounded down. Silvassa's Maximum Enhancement Bonus is +4
Special Abilities :
BAB 3+ : Once per day, Silvassa can gain the Keen quality for a number of rounds equal to it's wielder's BAB.
BAB 6+ : Silvassa gains the Axiomatic property, and will glow in the presence of Strong Evil, unless told not to by it's wielder.
BAB 9+ : Silvassa gains either the Evil Bane, or Chaos Bane special quality, this must be chosen by the wielder whenever Silvassa is unsheathed, and remains until it is sheathed again.
BAB 12+ : Silvassa gains the ability shed bright daylight and raises the lighting level by 3 levels out to 20 feet, and by 2 out to 40, and by 1 out to 60. This affects magical darkness as well, as if a spell of a level equal to 1/2 the wielder's BAB. Any evil creatures within the first increment (20 feet) take 1 hit point of damage per turn from the positive energy bound into the light. Creatures that normally take damage from positive energy take 2 hit points per turn instead.
Restrictions : Silvassa can only be wielded by a female elf (or half-elf) who is lawful and not evil. A lawful good drow (but not a neutral one) could also wield Silvassa.
Now, here's a sword that grows with the wielder for half their career, and even after they have access to more powerful weapons, Silvassa is still a mighty fine weapon to use. She's very restrictive of who she allies herself with, of course.
This is touching on what I consider one of the most aggravating things about the fantasy roleplaying game genre.
Throwaway magic stuff.
Level 3 fighter: "Sweeeet! Look at this cool longsword! It's MAGIC! Woohaaa!! Now I'll ROCK!
Level 6 fighter: "Hmmm... a magic longsword... That's cool. I guess I'll hang onto my old lame +1 longsword, just in case..."
Level 9 fighter: "Hmmm.... another magic longsword. Also a 2 but keen? Cool... Um.... I guess I'll sell this piece of crap +1 sword now. How much can I get for it? Seriously? You must be kidding...."
My character's backstories are littered with disposable magic items. I think the world has some sort of magical landfill full of +1 daggers and +1 armor that is leeching magical residue into the groundwater and causing the cancer rate of the nearest town to skyrocket.
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The problem with naming swords is that it's rather anticlmactic to have Excalibur turn out to be a +2 Longsword.
WoTC tried to handle this with Weapons of Legacy, where the weapons grow as you do, but, it was horribly handled. The 'awaken' the ability of the sword requirements was pretty awful, and you sort of had to plan your whole character around your weapon of legacy. Everyone I ever had read my copy of the book thought they were awesome conceptually, but nobody ever wanted to actually own one.
I think that it would be cool to have a 'Legacy Weapon' that had a name, etc, the problem is how to handle the fact that a character would want to get a hold of this at 2nd to 4th level, and have it be useful for a long time.
One thing you might want to try is having 'artifact' weapons be more common. In this sort of situation, you have to give the weapon abilities and drawbacks though. Here's one way I thought of to handle it, but I haven't had a chance to test it in play. Base the sword's abilities off the martial prowess of the wielder. A wielder cannot sell a Legacy Weapon, it simply won't work (perhaps it becomes a normal +2 longsword at that point, and loses all it's special magic). It can be given, or found, however. It can also be inherited. The more powerful the wielder, the more the wielder can get out of the Legacy Weapon.
Weapon Name : Silvassa
Type : Longsword
Description : Silvassa was forged by ancient elves in forgotten rituals for an Elven Princes. It is a blade forged of pure silver, with elven runes along the blade. One side holds the name of the weapon, the other reads 'Loyalty' in ancient Elven. The hilt is forged from pure gold, and the grip is made from a rough hewn but comfortable basalt with a silver core.
Benefits :
Enhancement Bonus : Silvassa has an Enhancement Bonus equal to it's rightful wielder's BAB / 3, rounded down. Silvassa's Maximum Enhancement Bonus is +4
Special Abilities :
BAB 3+ : Once per day, Silvassa can gain the Keen quality for a number of...
Oh, weapons of legacy. So inspirational yet, from a practical point of view, near useless. Personally, I've taken to making magic items that have abilities that expand on abilities the player can have, or in some way require them. Like dealing an extra point of damage per [Cold] spell you have prepared or allowing you to hit a single target twice during a whirlwind attack. Stuff that players would discover by accident and DM hints. It also allows you to add properties whenever you feel like it, since the players don't know whether that property exists or not until you tell them.
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This is touching on what I consider one of the most aggravating things about the fantasy roleplaying game genre.
Throwaway magic stuff.
Level 3 fighter: "Sweeeet! Look at this cool longsword! It's MAGIC! Woohaaa!! Now I'll ROCK!
Level 6 fighter: "Hmmm... a magic longsword... That's cool. I guess I'll hang onto my old lame +1 longsword, just in case..."
Level 9 fighter: "Hmmm.... another magic longsword. Also a 2 but keen? Cool... Um.... I guess I'll sell this piece of crap +1 sword now. How much can I get for it? Seriously? You must be kidding...."My character's backstories are littered with disposable magic items. I think the world has some sort of magical landfill full of +1 daggers and +1 armor that is leeching magical residue into the groundwater and causing the cancer rate of the nearest town to skyrocket.
Thats why i prefer legendary magic items like Purple Duck is doing and to just hand out fewer but more powerful magic items.
In previous campaigns I've run, I've used scaling magical items to avoid this. A character can only utilize a portion of a magic item's power, and as they gain skill and levels, they uncover more powers of their weapon. In many cases I've had the weapons gain new abilities as the character has done something particularly heroic.
In game mechanic terms, it comes out to the same thing as the character discovering higher powered magic loot and replacing existing items. But without the trail of disposable magic junk falling behind the character as they adventure.
I think I'm going back to that approach in the campaign I am now running. I really, really do hate the whole disposable magic item trope. It just seems totally bizarre to me.
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Arcanis had a policy back in the "cert" days that all magic had to be unique. That actually made magic a lot more fun. They also had an extremely simplified "legacy" type system. You find a magic sword, if you are 1st level it is +1 if you are 5th +2 if you are 9+ it might gain flaming or keen. Very easy to follow no feats or other requirements that really ruined Weapons of Legacy.
I love as a player finding unique magic items, but as a DM I understand that it can be an accounting nightmare keeping track of magic for 15 or 18 levels.
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In previous campaigns I've run, I've used scaling magical items to avoid this. A character can only utilize a portion of a magic item's power, and as they gain skill and levels, they uncover more powers of their weapon. In many cases I've had the weapons gain new abilities as the character has done something particularly heroic.
In game mechanic terms, it comes out to the same thing as the character discovering higher powered magic loot and replacing existing items. But without the trail of disposable magic junk falling behind the character as they adventure.
I think I'm going back to that approach in the campaign I am now running. I really, really do hate the whole disposable magic item trope. It just seems totally bizarre to me.
Back in 3.5 days we advanced our items by investing some of our experience into the items. Whatever the XP cost would have been to add the magical effect was paid by the user during a ritual. If the weapon or item was destroyed the character lost that XP permanently.
We could hold the advancement ritual at every 5th level. It worked really well for us then.
Now that Pathfinder does not use XP to build magic items we have not found a good way to still do this.
From my next campaign onwards I plan on internalizing the bonuses from magic weapons and armor +x. That way you dont need to keep upgrading or recycling magic weapons and armor. No more worrying about +X as you will get that as you level. Magic weapons can go back to being special things with names that a player holds on to, because they dont have to be replaced every 3 or 4 levels.
In previous campaigns I've run, I've used scaling magical items to avoid this. A character can only utilize a portion of a magic item's power, and as they gain skill and levels, they uncover more powers of their weapon. In many cases I've had the weapons gain new abilities as the character has done something particularly heroic.
In game mechanic terms, it comes out to the same thing as the character discovering higher powered magic loot and replacing existing items. But without the trail of disposable magic junk falling behind the character as they adventure.
I think I'm going back to that approach in the campaign I am now running. I really, really do hate the whole disposable magic item trope. It just seems totally bizarre to me.
I like this approach. Furthermore, it seems in keeping with the literary and mythological tradition of mighty warriors and the weapons associated with them having al almost symbiotic relationship -- that is, few of the weapons worked that well for just anyone, they truly shone only when wielded by the right person. Think Roland and Durendal, Arthur and Excalibur, even Elendil/Aragorn and Narsil/Anduril.
My character's backstories are littered with disposable magic items. I think the world has some sort of magical landfill full of +1 daggers and +1 armor that is leeching magical residue into the groundwater and causing the cancer rate of the nearest town to skyrocket.
So does this make the heroes actually villains?
When I start my next game it's going to be E6 so I'll be creating unique stories to magical equipment like weapons. After all they won't get much better than a +2 at most. Beauty in simplicity.
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I always name my weapons. My Jotunbrud PsyWar tripper had a regular old guisarm he called "anklebiter" and then upgraded to a +1 dragon/goblinoid bane Guisarme named "Morueme's Fall" in a campaign based around fighting that clan of Blue Dragons in the Silver Marches. All his weapons played on the tripping aspect.
My next character will likely be an Ulfen Paladin whose +1 holy frost mithral dwarven waraxe will be named "A Cold Day in Hell" for all the devils he wants to slay.
I definitely grabbed the concept more from Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser than from Excalibur. They named every weapon they owned the same thing, magic or not (Graywand/Heartseeker and Scalpel/Cat's Claw).
--I wanna Vrock. VROCK!
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In previous campaigns I've run, I've used scaling magical items to avoid this. A character can only utilize a portion of a magic item's power, and as they gain skill and levels, they uncover more powers of their weapon. In many cases I've had the weapons gain new abilities as the character has done something particularly heroic.
In game mechanic terms, it comes out to the same thing as the character discovering higher powered magic loot and replacing existing items. But without the trail of disposable magic junk falling behind the character as they adventure.
I think I'm going back to that approach in the campaign I am now running. I really, really do hate the whole disposable magic item trope. It just seems totally bizarre to me.
That's basically how Purple Ducks weapons work. You have some basic requirements, things like +3 BAB, 4 skills in knowledge etc. When you have them you can attune the weapon/item. Once attuned you can use any ability you can access. You can access more as you get higher level.
I use every magic weapon names that I can steal from video games, books and movies.
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I think that it would be cool to have a 'Legacy Weapon' that had a name, etc, the problem is how to handle the fact that a character would want to get a hold of this at 2nd to 4th level, and have it be useful for a long time.Easy: It has limited uses, and/or is intelligent and will only "help" if the PCs deserve it and need it.
IMO any meele combatant that's worth his/her salt has named his/her weapon.
All half-dozen of them?
I think that it would be cool to have a 'Legacy Weapon' that had a name, etc, the problem is how to handle the fact that a character would want to get a hold of this at 2nd to 4th level, and have it be useful for a long time.Easy: It has limited uses, and/or is intelligent and will only "help" if the PCs deserve it and need it.IMO any meele combatant that's worth his/her salt has named his/her weapon.All half-dozen of them?
When I first started playing D&D back in the early Reagan administration, I used to name all of my weapons, mundane or magical. Over time as the trail of disposable weapons became a flood, I stopped doing it. It just made it more sad to throw away the +2 dagger.
Oh, weapons of legacy. So inspirational yet, from a practical point of view, near useless. Personally, I've taken to making magic items that have abilities that expand on abilities the player can have, or in some way require them. Like dealing an extra point of damage per [Cold] spell you have prepared or allowing you to hit a single target twice during a whirlwind attack. Stuff that players would discover by accident and DM hints. It also allows you to add properties whenever you feel like it, since the players don't know whether that property exists or not until you tell them.
*shrug*
I already said the ones from the book were useless. I suggested divorcing them from the 'must perform X deed' and instead just put a restriction on each one based on who could wield it. This is very similar to the Excalibur legend (must pull sword from stone).
Obviously, the GM would need to make sure he tailored them to his game.
That's basically how Purple Ducks weapons work. You have some basic requirements, things like +3 BAB, 4 skills in knowledge etc. When you have them you can attune the weapon/item. Once attuned you can use any ability you can access. You can access more as you get higher level.
Huh, sounds like what I suggested above, actually. Purple Duck games huh? Is it PF or 3.5 or 4th?
This post at the Alexandrian might be helpful to this discussion.
This post at the Alexandrian might be helpful to this discussion.
+1
I've seen this before. Good read.
This post at the Alexandrian might be helpful to this discussion.+1
I've seen this before. Good read.
He seems to be a pretty insightful guy.
Every magic item found as treasure in my campaign that isn't a simple +1 weapon or armor will have a name or backstory, just as if they were an NPC. How much the party cares about the backstory is up to them, but since I almost exclusively play in the Forgotten Realms with its rich history I have so much to draw from that it's easy for me to write a 3-4 sentence story for every item.
Now if a PC is going to craft an item or have it commissioned, then it won't have any story but the one they create while using it, but since I haven't had a PC craft yet the few medium and major magic items I've given out have all had stories.
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Actually, that's not true. The names, however, could use some serious work! +3 Flaming burst long sword? Nah. How about "Emberthorn"? Or A +1 Frost scimitar? No thanks. Frostclaw, however? Sign me up!
However, it is incredibly lame when every one of the hobgoblins the party just vanquished had an Emberthorn. "What'd we get? Oh, our third Frostclaw? Sigh."
I blame WBL. We really need to get away from equating money with appropriate level power. Move from '+1 swords' to 'magic swords that grant +1 per 4 character levels' and the like.
Then you really CAN name your sword Eclisis without having to throw it away for Eclisis Mk II in a couple levels.
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Has anyone thought about "Weapon Experience Points"? I read an article about that a while back (StumbleUpon, gotta love it!), but I've failed to re-find it. Pretty much, as the adventurer fights dragons and other baddies he gains XP to level up, right? Well, in this case magic weapons do as well!
Something like: You gain half the amount of XP you get as WXP, which can be applied to any item you have to upgrade it. Use some ratio of (WXP needed) = (constant)*(gp value). Then drop WBL like crazy and you should be set :)
From Ghostwalk:
Named Magic Weapons
An unusual aspect of the Ghostwalk campaign is that all magical weapons, no matter how minor, have a name. The magical process to craft magic weapons that was discovered millennia ago in this part of the world required the weapon to have a unique name to cement its powers into place.
A weapons is often named for the person that is to bear it, or for some memorable event tied to its creation or the person that created it. For example, a +1 longsword made for a Tereppekian fighter named Bakara might be named Bakara’s Blade by its creator, and a +2 ghost bane heavy mace made by the church of Orcus might be known as Spirit Breaker.
Magic weapons that have abilities added to them over time sometimes have their names expanded, but always keep some element of the original name. If Bakara’s Blade later had the flaming property added to it, it might be renamed Bakara’s Brightblade. If Spirit Breaker was later crafted with the torturous property, its name might be changed to Spiritwrack.
A weapon’s name often reveals some of its history or features, even if its name has changed over time due to the addition of new properties. Spells such as analyze dweomer, identify, and legend lore automatically give a weapon’s current and previous names (in addition to all other effects of the spells), and a bard that knows the name of a magic weapon gains a +5 bonus to bardic knowledge checks made to reveal more information about that weapon.
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I blame it on 'plus' enchantments. Keen, flaming, holy, bane weapons are, IMO, inherently cooler than 'sword +X.'
Folding +X into the other enhancements, could make for a different sort of feel. All keen blades have a +1 to attack and damage rolls, since it's a '+1 enhancement,' but if the bearer wants it to have '+2,' he has to pick another '+1 enhancement' to have put on the blade, such as flaming or bane.
Mechanically, it makes all the sense in the world that +X armor and +X weapons would be created, but it doesn't feel terribly magical.
This is touching on what I consider one of the most aggravating things about the fantasy roleplaying game genre.
Throwaway magic stuff.
Level 3 fighter: "Sweeeet! Look at this cool longsword! It's MAGIC! Woohaaa!! Now I'll ROCK!
Level 6 fighter: "Hmmm... a magic longsword... That's cool. I guess I'll hang onto my old lame +1 longsword, just in case..."
Level 9 fighter: "Hmmm.... another magic longsword. Also a 2 but keen? Cool... Um.... I guess I'll sell this piece of crap +1 sword now. How much can I get for it? Seriously? You must be kidding...."My character's backstories are littered with disposable magic items. I think the world has some sort of magical landfill full of +1 daggers and +1 armor that is leeching magical residue into the groundwater and causing the cancer rate of the nearest town to skyrocket.
Hmmm... I suppose a thoughtful GM could provide opportunities to hand that +1 sword down to an apprentice or a favorite nephew, or even a henchman you like a lot (which would give it a chance to go on helping the party).
Those are some of the things I've done for my players.
-Mr. Thoughtful
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Huh, sounds like what I suggested above, actually. Purple Duck games huh? Is it PF or 3.5 or 4th?
That's basically how Purple Ducks weapons work. You have some basic requirements, things like +3 BAB, 4 skills in knowledge etc. When you have them you can attune the weapon/item. Once attuned you can use any ability you can access. You can access more as you get higher level.
Pathfinder, sadly due to a deal they signed they can only sell on Drivethru. I have done reviews of their products as forum posts here and up over at Drivethru.
Pathfinder, sadly due to a deal they signed they can only sell on Drivethru. I have done reviews of their products as forum posts here and up over at Drivethru.Huh, sounds like what I suggested above, actually. Purple Duck games huh? Is it PF or 3.5 or 4th?
That's basically how Purple Ducks weapons work. You have some basic requirements, things like +3 BAB, 4 skills in knowledge etc. When you have them you can attune the weapon/item. Once attuned you can use any ability you can access. You can access more as you get higher level.
Hmmm, interesting, but from the preview it looks as if they're simply lists of items, without rules or guidelines for making new ones.
This is touching on what I consider one of the most aggravating things about the fantasy roleplaying game genre.
Throwaway magic stuff.
Level 3 fighter: "Sweeeet! Look at this cool longsword! It's MAGIC! Woohaaa!! Now I'll ROCK!
Level 6 fighter: "Hmmm... a magic longsword... That's cool. I guess I'll hang onto my old lame +1 longsword, just in case..."
Level 9 fighter: "Hmmm.... another magic longsword. Also a 2 but keen? Cool... Um.... I guess I'll sell this piece of crap +1 sword now. How much can I get for it? Seriously? You must be kidding...."My character's backstories are littered with disposable magic items. I think the world has some sort of magical landfill full of +1 daggers and +1 armor that is leeching magical residue into the groundwater and causing the cancer rate of the nearest town to skyrocket.
Hmmm... I suppose a thoughtful GM could provide opportunities to hand that +1 sword down to an apprentice or a favorite nephew, or even a henchman you like a lot (which would give it a chance to go on helping the party).
Those are some of the things I've done for my players.
-Mr. Thoughtful
So, there is no difference in principle between selling the old no longer usable magic crap to a shop for 1/5 it's value and giving it to some NPC. By the time you are handing a +1 longsword to your henchman, you're typically finding +1 longswords in bunches so it's still lame.
I have already approached my group with the idea of named magic items that grow in power as they grow in levels. Right now I'm thinking of a +1 enhancement boost every five levels, but I may go to every 4 levels. I am considering having magic weapons and armor which have jewel sockets that can allow jewels to be added that provide additional powers. I want to get away from the same old "+2 flaming burst sword" idea and have weapons which have more varied, although more limited use, powers. One gem might allow a sword to have the "keen" property for five rounds per day, while another might allow the sword to heal the wielder 5 HP three times per day.
The idea is to make them unique, scalable and items the PCs want to hang onto, name and incorporate into their character concepts.
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Hmmm, interesting, but from the preview it looks as if they're simply lists of items, without rules or guidelines for making new ones.Pathfinder, sadly due to a deal they signed they can only sell on Drivethru. I have done reviews of their products as forum posts here and up over at Drivethru.Huh, sounds like what I suggested above, actually. Purple Duck games huh? Is it PF or 3.5 or 4th?
That's basically how Purple Ducks weapons work. You have some basic requirements, things like +3 BAB, 4 skills in knowledge etc. When you have them you can attune the weapon/item. Once attuned you can use any ability you can access. You can access more as you get higher level.
Yeah it is just a list of legendary items in each of the 3 books. Not rules for how to do it yourself. Though it is a pretty simple formula PDG seems to be using. You could hunt up one of my review threads and make a suggest he post some rules about it. I imagine he would like feedback for future products people would like to see.
Zytan's Weapons
Chu-ko-nu
Repeating Crossbow
The repeating Crossbow is a typical with a +3 enchantment, the Crossbow has three place for alchemical items like Dragon rods, Scream bags, Lightning battery. The crossbow also has 1 Case of Holding that hold 100 bolts each. Zytan also has several alchemical bolts. The Crossbow was commissioned by Valinoghtorklax the mercenary Red Dragon that is now rotting at the bottom of the Sea while his soul is in Tiamats realm in Baator, he has not forgotten his last commission.
Venom
+2 Syringe Long spear
Venom has a long thin blade made of adamantine-glass with a crossbar at the base with Three small canisters with poison or other alchemical substances contained with in. As a free action the type of substance can be changed. Zytan made the this Spear and had it enchanted in Absalom by a Wizard down on his luck named Victor, Just Victor. The spear is usual absorbed into his hand so that Zytan is never with out a weapon.
Telson
+4 Injection Dagger
The original Dr. Bensi Skule had this dagger made, the dagger hold 3
types of poisons which can be switched as a free action.
this is what My 16th level alchemist has I have all of his weapons names and I little back story. I don't do that for every thing but it is fun
I love naming weapons... but I don't get around to it that often, usually only when I know that I'll get to keep it long-term.
As an example, my Fhokki(think Viking) character in Kingdoms of Kalamar has a throwing/returning spear that he has named Wing-Fang. It's even written on my char. sheet in runes. :)
This thread also makes me think I should come up with a name for my char. Shadrayl- a warblade in Rise of the Runelords. I've been using the bonded item rules in DMG II in order to enchant it myself, so I know I'll be able to keep it as long as the char. lives. (And really, if a warblade doesn't name his sword, who would?)
As for naming weapons, i named my whip. Sweet Sting. :)
I fully endorse this message :P
Green Ronin did a couple of books along those lines...one on Weapons the other on Rings( the Ring The Ring ..give us the Ring).
I have the books and think they are called Relics of Legend.
My character's backstories are littered with disposable magic items. I think the world has some sort of magical landfill full of +1 daggers and +1 armor that is leeching magical residue into the groundwater and causing the cancer rate of the nearest town to skyrocket.
No no, see the leaking magic isn't causing cancer, it's causing a massive increase in undead.
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I always figured if weapons had names that meant they were instantly cooler than other weapons, which is sometimes represented (Oathboaw, Holy Avenger) and sometimes not (Frostbrand Dwarven Thrower), yes they might have extra abilities, but they sometimes simply aren't very good extra abilities. Kind of like characters in books, if it has a name, it's more likely to survive/be awesome, unless it's a background character, then they are S.O.L.
Nice if your writing a novel, a pain to keep track of while playing a game.
+1 longsword works for me.
Good for rollplaying. It just sounds weird when it comes to roleplaying.
"Can you forge for me a +1 Longsword?!"
- "uh... okay." - the next day - "There one more longsword for you collection."
I think there should be names for the +1 through +5 bonuses that you can actually drop in character when commissioning a magic weapon from a weaponsmith.
One of the things I delight in when it comes to E6.
Masterwork is the best that someone can hope for until 4th+ level or so and it remains relevant up to when they max out at level 6. Even +1 items will make the owner a target of unwanted attention as well. They are too valuable a resource just to "write off".
A +2 or +3 weapon is a major artifact and a singularity.
That's not how I'm doing E6. (Actually, I'm doing E8.) My group of 4th-level PCs has found (among other things) an intelligent longsword, an allying longsword, a dagger of venom, and a dragon's head shield (sort of like a lion's shield).